Emu Loader v8.2.6 is released. Emu Loader was created to manage an arcade games emulator called M.A.M.E. With this frontend, you can change practically any option that is available in the emulator, like the screen resolution, sound quality, game options, etc. There are lots of extra features that makes your life much more easier, like the snapshots viewer where all captured images from M.A.M.E. games can be viewed when selecting games.

Emu Loader Changelog:
Fixed
Select a media player and reset parameters buttons doesn't work; video preview, preferences screen
Message box dialog doesn't display unicode game titles in the top bar
Proper detection of PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP image types, to fix frontend freezes and crashes (unzipped and zipped)
Memory leak when exiting the frontend; image panel controls were not destroyed properly
If clicking button OK in "Emulators Setup" screen, emulators info are not updated correctly in "folders_emulators.ini" file
Neo-Geo filter was broken; from now on, it is done by checking only the "neogeo" bios name instead of driver names
Several fixes to preview images and EL's internal zip files cache system
- memory leak when switching image categories in classic view mode; images zip cache was not properly terminated
- memory leak when exiting the frontend if it was started directly in thumbnails view
- images zip cache were initialized three times over if starting frontend directly in thumbnails view
- when starting frontend directly in thumbnails view, after switching to another view mode, images zip files cache was not reinitializing; on images layout view, only game snapshots were showing
- when switching to thumbnails view, image zip files cache was not cleared, wasting RAM... only game snapshot cache is needed
Frontend crash while parsing LUA plugin info from "plugin.json" files... EL was not checking for empty lines, causing the crash (MAME settings screen)
MAME snapshot name format was not scanned correctly for parent sets (snap\gamename\0000.png)
Switching to "Internet Game Info" now clears the image zip files cache (image categories popup menu)
Cycle image categories doesn't select "Internet Game Info" anymore (images tool bar button)
Filter "Taito G-NET" was not working
Changed
Changes to thumbnails view
- minimum size increased to 152 pixels
- game icon size changed to 128x128 pixels
- added system icon in thumbnails to separate similar games of different systems
- added game icon so you know if game is parent, clone, available, missing
- you can no longer delete game snapshots of multiple selected games; to prevent frontend corruption
- setting "Show Images/Game Docs Panel" is no more, it was causing too many bugs; from now on, images panel is always enable in thumbs view
-> you must enable/disable images in main menu images, view mode button, games popup menu "Thumbnails" sub-menu or in Thumbnais Settings dialog
-> this also fixes a couple bugs related to game docs panel in thumbs view
- UNFIXABLE bug: if you change games font (name/size), the thumbnail cell size doesn't update correctly; only a frontend restart fixes it
Game name icon in games list status bar now show frontend's default game icon (system/have/miss icon status)
From now on, driver ini files are only searched in "inidir\source\" folder, except for MAME builds older than v0.118
- it fixes gamename.ini files from being deleted if driver name and game name are the same
- starting MAME v0.179 there is no support for drivername.ini in "inidir\" folder
No more gradient selection bar on games lists, and any other list that uses EasyListView; single color is enough
Changes to "Delete single selected game dialog"
- fixed a bug that was not calculating the total files listed, so dialog's width/height can be properly adjusted
- extended width and height to support higher screen resolutions; 640x480 is still supported
User interface tweaks/updates to "delete/rename game image"
Split read/write routines of emulators binaries and images folders from the main ReadIniFile() / UpdateIniFile() functions
- to update images paths settings (ui.ini; folders_emulators.ini) right after exiting "Image Categories Settings" screen; prevent loss of changes in case of an app crash... FINALLY!!!
Tweaks to "Select Machine to Run Game" (software list games related)
- show favorite icon in machines
- support higher screen resolutions
Load preview images with threads enabled by default... toggle button no longer available in images tool bar
Removed
Setting "Selected Game Dark Font" no longer needed; font is always in black color on selected games (preferences screen)
Columns "Game Status" and "Software Info Tip" removed from the main games list
IMPORTANT: make sure to delete "eldir\ini_files\columns_profile.ini" before starting the frontend or it might crash!
Added
Driver status icon info next to the game icon in games list status bar (useful in thumbnails view)
-> good = green; imperfect = yellow; preliminary = red
Support MAME v0.179
New security setting: Disable "Delete/Copy/Move Games Files"; to prevent kiddies from messing with your games files (preferences screen, "Games List" tab)
NOTE: this setting is disabled by default; to protect your ROMs you must check the new setting
Multi-slot arcade games loading support for HBMAME
- systems: Neo-Geo, STV, MegaTech
- new files: "arcade\hbmame_multicart_neogeo.ini"; "arcade\hbmame_multicart_stv.ini"
- misc filters "Show Only Neo-Geo MVS" and "Show Only STV Multi-Slot" also include HBMAME games
Software list games: new info "part name" / "part title" for games with multiple files (floppy disk/cassette)
- EL can show you the title of the floppy disk (see game "aleste2" in "msx2_flop" softlist)... for future expansion
Changes to preview images feature:
- file "image_09_internet.ico" renamed to "image_internet.ico"
- new categories: end, boss, logo, score, versus, game over, how to play, select
-> read/write folder paths in MAME's "ui.ini", if file found
-> only .png files are supported since these categories are from the actual game screen
-> see "docs\el-readme.txt" to find out what are the valid .zip filenames for each category (same as ClrMAME)
-> you can find these collections at Progetto-SNAPS (http://www.progettosnaps.net)
- added a new image category custom hint box that doesn't disappear after 4 seconds (mouse hover over image)
- maximum images per category increased from 10 to 30
Support separate zip filenames for software list snapshots, so you don't have to put snapshots of all your software lists in "snap.zip"
- files must be the in same folder as snap.zip (or same folder as titles.zip; marquees.zip; cabinets.zip; etc...)
- zip filenames must be the same as software list names, for all image categories! (msx1_cart.zip; nes.zip; n64.zip; snes.zip; etc...)
- filenames like "msx1_cart_titles.zip" or "a7800_titles.zip" are not supported
- you can find these image packs in Progetto-SNAPS website (http://www.progettosnaps.net)
- all image categories are supported
- if you make changes to any .zip file, a frontend restart is required; Emu Loader uses a temporary cache system to avoid open/close .zip files for each selected game (abuse mode OFF)
- these softlist zip files will be scanned before snap.zip
Added icons size options for machines list side panel; "small (16x16)", "standard (24x24)", "large (32x32)", so you can use bigger game fonts (machines list popup menu)
Setting "Multiline Captions" is alsos applied to machines list side panel (preferences screen, "Games List" tab)
Machines list side panel background color and parent/clone font settings are now the same as main games list